New estate school may help cut capacity issue

North Yorkshire estate school may help cut capacity issue

PROPOSALS to build a primary school which could eventually take up to 420 pupils have been unveiled for a controversial housing estate on a greenfield site.

North Yorkshire County Council’s children and young people’s service has lodged an application with the authority’s planners to build the school across a 1.6-hectare agricultural field to cater for families moving to Taylor Wimpey’s Manse Farm development, near Knaresborough as well as to ease pressure on nearby schools.

Outline planning permission was granted for the 600-home estate near Hay- a-Park Lane in 2018 and last year saw a nearby 402-home development at Highfield Farm, on York Road, accepted, despite concerns that it would result in harmful levels of over-development, due to the area featuring in the Harrogate Borough Council’s Local Plan.

In documents lodged with planners, it states the development would initially be for 210 pupils to serve the new housing development as well as providing additional capacity for over-subscribed schools in the area.

The paper state the school has been designed as a two-storey building to facilitate later expansion, for potentially up to two classes per year group and to “minimise the site footprint and leave the maximum amount of the remaining area available for the external areas”.

In addition, the proposed school includes a 26-place nursery in the school building, beside the reception class.

Associated external play spaces, car parking and the school playing fields form part of the proposal and are for the use of staff, pupils and parents.

Management of the new school will be by an academy provider, which is yet to be selected.

The school hall has been designed as a “one court sports hall” that may enable after-school use by the local community. The documents state: “This could present an opportunity for the academy to generate additional income. Hours of use for community-related after-school activities will depend on the extent of community use if this is the academy’s wish.”

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